Meagan Forck

If you have ever been to a haunted house, then you will understand one hundred percent how terrifying they are! There is always something new right around the corner, and you never know what you got yourself into. 

Sometimes we have these opportunities outside of haunted houses. Think back to your freshman year of high school. Perhaps this was the first time you were at a new school, first time you heard about FFA, or your first time trying something new. And as you get more involved in FFA, you might decide you want to try public speaking. As you write your speech, distractions such as sports or other club activities are thrown your way. Or, maybe you procrastinate preparing your speech until the last possible second that your advisor will let you turn it in. 

Despite the challenges that seem to keep jumping in your way, you press on. Suddenly, it’s time to begin practicing your speech. Your nerves build until the day of the speech competition finally arrives. Everyone tells you that you’ll do great, but you start to doubt your abilities. It’s a scary time for you as you prepare to deliver your first-ever speech in front of real judges. 

While you might not win your first speech competition, it’s important to remember that you pushed through the worries, fears and what seemed to be some of the scariest few moments of your high school career. The most frightening times are behind you as you look ahead to more speech competitions in the future. With each one, you can be more prepared than you were the time before. You’re more thankful for taking this step out of your comfort zone, more thankful for the opportunity that you had, the people who supported you, and that you took a chance to open that door in your FFA career, no matter how scary it might have seemed on the other side.

So, how thankful are you for those scary opportunities?

How is FFA like a rubber band?

I was asked this question just four years ago when I was running as a junior officer during my freshman year of high school. This might feel like an easy and simple question to answer, but for me the question meant so much more than just the comparison of FFA and a rubber band. 

I gave two answers to the question. The first thing that came to mind for me was that FFA is resilient. No matter how far you stretch a rubber band it will return to its original shape. The Missouri FFA Association and its members overcame a global pandemic; we overcame some of the biggest adversity that many of us will face during our time in the Missouri FFA Association. 

The second answer I replied with is that you can pull and stretch a rubber band as much as you want or don’t want. This might seem like a simple answer, but another member in my chapter also explained it this way. To both of us, our answers were almost identical. “As an FFA member, we can stretch our rubber band out just a little by taking an agriculture class in high school, or we can stretch our rubber band out a lot by being active in FFA.” 

While I was in high school, I was active in FFA. Between public speaking, dairy foods, and meats evaluation competitions, FFA Camp, Public Speaking Academy and HYMAX (Helping Youth Maximize Agriculture eXperiences), I learned how I could stretch my rubber band. 

My challenge for you during your time in FFA is to stretch your rubber band as far as you want it. Are you going to leave your rubber band stretched only a little or are you going to stretch your rubber band to its max?